Uncle Fester

Walking the track at the YMCA, cranking Good Charlotte, and the guy walking next to me looks exactly like Uncle Fester- completely bald, stooped, blackish under the eyes. All he needed was a lit lightbulb sticking out of his mouth.

For those of you who weren’t sprouted by the early sixties, Uncle Fester was the delightfully ghoulish, lovable uncle on The Addams Family TV show on the ABC network. This family was remarkably spooky, Halloweenish, and very funny. Not sure how long the show ran, but I enjoyed every episode. And I loved Gomez, the family father played by John Aston, the most.

My friend the Wank insisted that The Munsters, which ran on CBS at the same time, was better. I did love Grandpa Munster, played by Al Lewis (who I met in a New York Thruway restroom!) but the show did not measure up to the Addams Family.

So from now on when you hear someone use the words ‘lurch’ or ‘thing’ think of Addams Family characters instead of the regular meaning. You might smile.